Jace Anders
'Jace: '"You know, maybe when Caleb is done saving the city, he can come back and try to save us." --Jace Anders Childhood "It was hell...I grew up thinking 'this is it...this is how I die' every single day..." --Jace talking to Mick and Summer about his past Jace Anders was born to Beth Anders and Jayden Langlois on January 1st, 2000. He was described as a "fun and happy" child by his mother, who helped look after him along with Jayden. Sadly, six years later, as Jayden was driving Jace home from a soccer game, a truck t-boned Jayden's side of the vehicle. Throwing himself next to Jace, he was successful in helping Jace survive the accident. He, however, did not survive, as bits of shrapnel pierced his lungs and heart, killing him nearly. Jace watched Jayden die for minutes on a lonely highway--under the impression that his father was merely "sleeping"--for nearly an hour before help arrived, traumatizing Jace and devastated Beth. Jace dealt with depression and constant PTSD flashbacks and nightmares from the incident and appears to still be afraid of driving. Despite all of this, Beth and Jace managed to find a little closure (more for Beth, than Jace) when they said their goodbyes at his funeral. Jace was only a child and was deeply confused about the entire situation, asking his mother during the funeral, "how is he gonna get any work done if he's here?" From this point on, Jace held a grudge against himself, feeling guilty for being responsible for his father's death as it was his ''soccer game they were driving home from. This guilt would cause Jace to become very protective over the people he cared about and quit any extracurricular activities. Soon, after Marcus took up Jayden's role as the father in Jace's life, the physical, emotional, and verbal abuse he suffered from him was eventually too much and pushed him even further into his depression and he'd stay up every night, hoping that Jayden would come home to protect him from Marcus. Despite this, Jace did enjoy spending time with his next-door neighbors Mick Dominguez and Katherine Rose. Abuse Three years after the crash, Jace was still struggling with PTSD, as Beth didn't really understand what he was feeling. He refused to come out of his room, forcing Beth to homeschool him and being removed from the soccer team after attacking one of his teammates when they joked about Jayden during a game. Shortly after, Beth met a dashing young man named "Marcus Lloyd" and soon began a relationship with him without knowing that he was suffering from IED (Intermittent Explosive Disorder), causing him to constant lash out in rage for things that didn't even matter that much. Jace held an intense dislike for both Beth and Marcus, thinking Beth was trying to replace Jayden with Marcus. He never really spoke to Marcus; their rocky relationship soon coming to a head when he walked in on Marcus beating Beth with a belt for not doing the dishes. His initial reaction was to scream, but he then grabbed a knife from the sink and stabbed Marcus in the back of his right calf, causing Marcus to turn around and beat him until he was unconscious and lying in a pool of his own blood before Beth managed to call 911 and protect Jace from further harm by knocking Marcus out with a frying pan. After waking in a hospital with Beth by his side, he asked her if Marcus was ever coming home, to which Beth cried and said "no". That promise, however did not last, as Beth soon welcomed Marcus back into the family, where his physical, emotional, and verbal abuse drove Jace away from home and into the arms of Mick Dominguez, a friend from next door--the only reason Jace would ever leave the house. The abuse continued for years until Katherine called the police on Marcus and had him put behind bars. Sadly, the damage to Jace had already been done. He would often hide how he feels and use sarcasm to try and prevent anyone from trying to form a close attachment to him, as it was always people close to Jace that hurt him. The exceptions being Katherine, Mick, and Caleb. Rape PTSD IED Mick '''Jace: '"We've been there for each other since we were kids. We even ran away together, thinking we could go out and make it on our own. Because you let him hurt me, and because you let him hurt Mick. We were kids--afraid of what they would do to us! Can you really blame us for wanting to make it stop?" --Jace explaining to Beth and Marie why he and Mick ran away Eventually, after forming a bond with Mick and after Marcus tried to kill Jace in an outburst of rage, he ran away from home. Mick saw him running down the street with a small bag and chased after him. After catching up to Jace, he found comfort in Mick's arms, crying to him for an hour before Mick asked him about his bag. He told Mick he wanted to run away from Marcus, but Mick wouldn't let him go alone and left with him, as he was also experiencing physical abuse at the hands of his own father. They spent the next few days on the streets with nothing but themselves. Their friendship blossomed and they eventually began crushing on one another, spending every second of every day with one another as they wandered through the streets of New York City. They eventually opened up to each other about their home lives and fell asleep together on a bus ride through the city. Soon, Mick came down with the flu about a week later and Jace went out to get medicine for him. Remembering that they didn't have any money, Jace stole from a grocery store and got the medicine to Mick before police managed to catch up to them. Mick and Jace took off down an alley when they came across a ladder and Jace tried to get Mick out of there before the police could catch up. Mick, however, wouldn't go without Jace, saying, "I can't leave you here" before the police brought them in where they were reunited with their upset and furious family. The store didn't press charges out of sympathy for the kids, but Mick and Jace were then separated after Mick changed schools and Beth grounded Jace to the house. __FORCETOC__